Luận văn thạc sĩ a survey on lower secondary school students’ motivation to take extra courses in english m a thesis linguistics 82202

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THÚY LAN ANH

A SURVEY ON LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’
MOTIVATION TO TAKE EXTRA COURSES IN ENGLISH
NGHIÊN CỨU ĐIỀU TRA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC CƠ
SỞ THAM GIA CÁC LỚP HỌC THÊM TIẾNG ANH

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
`
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

HANOI, 2018

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THÚY LAN ANH

A SURVEY ON LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’
MOTIVATION TO TAKE EXTRA COURSES IN ENGLISH
NGHIÊN CỨU ĐIỀU TRA ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC CƠ
SỞ THAM GIA CÁC LỚP HỌC THÊM TIẾNG ANH

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Le Van Canh

HANOI, 2018

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the minor study entitled “A survey on lower secondary school
students‟ motivation to take extra courses in English” was conducted by me for the
degree of Master in English teaching methodology at University of Languages and
International Studies under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Le Van Canh,
University of

Languages and International Studies,

Hanoi, Vietnam. The

interpretations of the collected data were based on my reading of the target topic and
they are not published in any form of books or articles. For this study, no degree or
diploma has been conferred on me before.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am so grateful to University of Languages and International Studies and the Faculty
of Post Graduate Studies for making it possible for me to study here. I would like to
heartily express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to all the Professors and
lecturers of the university, especially my supervisor, Professor Le Van Canh who
encouraged and directed me to finish this paper.
I am also thankful to all of the students at PCT Secondary schools who helped me to do
the survey as well as the interviews despite their busy time studying for their
examination at school.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION .............................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...........................................................................................ii
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... v
LIST OF CHARTS .......................................................................................................vi
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................vii
CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 1
1.2 General statement of the problem .............................................................................. 1
1.3 The significance of the study ..................................................................................... 2
1.4 Research question....................................................................................................... 2

1.5 Context of the study ................................................................................................... 2
1.6 Organization of the thesis........................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER TWO. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 4
2.1 Definition of motivation ............................................................................................. 4
2.2 Motivational orientations in language learning ......................................................... 5
2.3 Motivation and the social context .............................................................................. 9
2.3.1 The intergroup model .............................................................................................. 9
2.3.2 Situated language identity ..................................................................................... 10
2.3.3 Social theory of motivation ................................................................................... 11
2.3.4 Motivational impact of learning situation ............................................................. 12
2.4 Role of motivation in language learning .................................................................. 13
CHAPTER THREE. METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 15
3.1 Participants ............................................................................................................... 15
3.2 Instruments ............................................................................................................... 15
3.3 Data collection procedures ....................................................................................... 16
3.4 Data analysis procedures .......................................................................................... 16
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CHAPTER FOUR. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................. 18
4.1 Findings .................................................................................................................... 18
4.1.1 Questionnaire results ............................................................................................. 18
4.1.2 Interview Findings ................................................................................................ 31
4.2 Discussions ............................................................................................................... 33
4.3 Pedagogical implications ......................................................................................... 35
CHAPTER FIVE. CONCLUSION ............................................................................ 38
5.1 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 38
5.2 Limitation of the study ............................................................................................. 38

5.3 Recommendations for future and further research ................................................... 38
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 40
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. 44

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1. Number of students in extra English classes................................................ 18
Table 4.2. Teacher(s) in extra English classes ............................................................... 19
Table 4.3. The frequency of English extra classes ......................................................... 19
Table 4.4. Length of each class session ......................................................................... 20
Table 4.5. Reasons for participating in English extra classes ........................................ 20
Table 4.6. Additional reasons for choosing English extra classes ................................. 21
Table 4.7. Class preferences........................................................................................... 22
Table 4.8. Evaluation of English extra classes............................................................... 28
Table 4.9. Students‟ comments on English extra classes ............................................... 30

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LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1. Reasons for preferences of English extra classes .......................................... 23
Chart 4.2. Reasons for preferences of English class at school ....................................... 25

Chart 4.3. Reasons for choosing both classes ................................................................ 26
Chart 4.4. Reasons for disliking both classes................................................................. 27
Chart 4.5. Evaluation of English extra classes ............................................................... 29

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ABSTRACT

English is more and more essential in the modern world because this language supports
people a lot in their academic career or jobs. For students, English is vital if they want
to get scholarships for studying abroad or it is the important factor which provides
learners access to gifted schools. Although teaching and learning English are improved
a lot in Vietnamese schools, many students find extra courses to help them promoting
their English proficiency. I wonder if English teaching now in public school is fit with
their needs or not. Hence, I conducted the study with the purpose of finding out what
motivates students joining extra English classes. The findings of the study investigate
students‟ needs as well. Thanks to information on the paper, I could benefit my
teaching at the secondary school where I am working now. In this study, a
questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data. Findings showed that students‟
motivation participating in English extra classes mostly resulted from social impact.
Moreover, there is a casual relationship between English teaching at school and
students‟ motivation to take extra classes. Additionally, the findings of the study also
describe factors that attract students in classrooms. Results from questionnaire and
findings from interviews can be used as resources of English teaching and learning at
lower secondary schools.

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CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
In the context of this globalized world, English has become the leading language that
rolls the wheel of international communication (Phillipson, 1992). It is generally
learned as a second language and used as an official language of many countries and
world organizations. Vietnam is not the exception which is influenced on the expansion
of English. With the development of international businesses and trades, the capacity
of communicating in English plays a key role in all fields. To meet the new trends, the
Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has made national projects on
education, especially on English subject. The latest national project is the Decision N0
1400/QD-TTg on approving the 10-year National plan for “Teaching and Learning
Foreign Language in the national Formal Education System in the Period of 2008 –
2020” which was issued on September 30th, 2008. However, until now, the effort of
changing in public education system is still not as good as it was expected. To supply a
service which meets students‟ needs, many English institutions mushroom all over the
country, especially in big cities. As a matter of fact, these institutions attract a lot of
students at varied ages.
1.2 General statement of the problem
When teaching English for lower secondary students, I recognized that a lot of students
at PCT Secondary school took private English courses after school although at the time
I conducted this research, students did not need to take part in an English test for their
graduation exam. I wonder what motivates them to take those courses. I would like to
find out whether there is any causal relationship between the formal teaching of
English at the school and the students‟ motivation to take extra courses. The

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understanding can be helpful to teachers and school administrators in their efforts to
improve the teaching and learning of English at the school.
1.3 The significance of the study
The study makes benefits for English teaching and learning at lower secondary schools.
From the result of the paper, teachers may adjust their teaching ways to meet students‟
needs in the international globalization.
The findings of this study may enrich the theory of teaching and learning English at
secondary schools. The result of the research can also be used as a reference for those
who want to conduct a research in English teaching and learning process.
1.4 Research question
The research study was conducted to survey secondary students from grade 6 to grade
9 in the academic year 2017-2018 at PCT Secondary school, Hanoi, Vietnam. Its
objective was to find the answers to the following question:
- What motivates students to take extra courses in English?
1.5 Context of the study
The study was conducted at PCT Secondary public school in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is a
public school which follows Ministry of Education and Training‟s programs. There are
nearly 1700 students in total from grade 6 to grade 9. The average number of students
in each class is 45 students. Students have three English class sessions every week.
1.6 Organization of the thesis
This study is organized into five chapters.
Chapter one covers the background, the significance of the study, the research
question, the context of the study and the organization of the thesis.

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Chapter two includes four main categories of literature: Definition of motivation,
different motivational orientations in language teaching, motivation and the social
context, and role of motivation in language teaching.
Chapter three comprises of the methodology including participants, instruments, data
collection procedures, and data analysis procedures.
Chapter four presents the findings of collected data consisted of survey results and
interview findings.
In the last chapter, the paper covers the conclusion interpreted from collected data.
Discussion, limitation of the study, pedagogical implications and further and future
research are also mentioned in this chapter.

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CHAPTER TWO. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of motivation
Motivation is an essential component which has effects on teaching and learning
process. The effectiveness of this component is attested by a variety of theorists and
scholars. Dörnyei (2004) proved that “motivation is one of the main determinants of
second/foreign language learning achievement”. Spolsky (1989) had the similar view
when he assumed that motivation is one of 74 conditions for success in second
language learning. According to him, motivation is an important link to students‟
learning and “the more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend

learning an aspect of a second language”. It explains the reason why some learners pay
much attention to lessons or try their hard to finish all tasks with high quality while
others do not. Therefore, many theorists have put their time and effort into searching
motivation which is a complex concept and is defined in multiple ways. However, the
definition of motivation often becomes confusing because researchers do not provide a
uniform definition of motivation (Dörnye, 2001). In fact, there is little consensus and
much disagreement among researchers who involve in the study of motivation.
Dörnyei and Ottó (1998) defined motivation as “the dynamically changing cumulative
arousal in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and
evaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are
selected, prioritized, operationalised and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out.”
Gardner (2010) was in agreement with Dörnye (2001) when he considered that
motivation is a difficult-to-define construct. He defined motivation as referring to a
combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus
favorable attitudes towards learning the language. Motivation is operationally defined
by Gardner and his associates in a slightly different way for the purpose of

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measurement, as consisting of desire to learn the language, motivational intensity, and
attitudes towards learning the language. Pintrich & Schunk (1996:4) identified
motivation as “the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained”.
According to them, motivation is a process which cannot be observed directly but can
be inferred by behaviors as a choice of tasks, effort, persistence, and verbalizations.
They explain that motivation involves goals that provide an impetus for and direction
to action and that motivation requires physical or mental activity geared towards
attaining goals. Finally, these authors claim that motivation is an activity that is

instigated and sustained; that is to say, starting toward a goal is important and often
difficult since it requires taking the first step. However, they suggest that motivational
processes are critical to sustaining actions. Although researchers have different views
of motivation; most of them agree that this component concerns the direction and
magnitude of human behavior like the choice of a particular action, the persistence
with it or the effort expended on it. Additionally, motivation is responsible for why
people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, and
how hard they are going to pursue it (Dörnyei (2001)).
2.2 Motivational orientations in language learning
In this section, I will outline prominent motivational orientations related to language
learning field. Orientation, according to Gardner‟s (1985) motivation theory, is not part
of motivation, but it is sought through the acquisition of the second language and
functions as motivational antecedents. Its role is to help to arouse motivation and direct
it towards a set of goals. Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972) categorized two classes of
orientations which are integrative orientation and instrumental orientation. The former
refers to a desire to learn a second language in order to meet learners‟ need in
communicating with people in the second language group or becoming a valued
member of that language community. In general, the integrative motivational

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orientation relates to a positive interpersonal attitude toward the second language
group. In addition, Gardner and Lambert (1972) also suggested that individuals with an
integrative orientation would demonstrate greater motivational effort in learning a
second language and then achieve greater second language competence. By contrast,
the latter refers to a desire to learn a second language for a specific purpose or practical
goals like job promotion or progress in one‟s studies. In fact, there was a variety of

researches which involve in this formulation; however, the results of them have been
inconsistent (Au, 1988; Gardner, 1985). While some early authors shared the view of
the importance of the integrative orientation, others did not give approval to the model
because the instrumental orientation predicted the second language outcomes or the
integrative orientation had a negative correlation with proficiency (Chihara &Oller,
1978; Lukmani, 1972; Clément and Kruidenier, 1983). Among them, Clément and
Kruidenier (1983) supposed that these discrepancies resulted from definitional
problems and the influence of social milieu. They suggested four other motivational
orientations which are common to all groups of learners: (1) travel, (2) friendship, (3)
knowledge, and (4) the instrumental orientations. There were several similar studies of
Dörnye & Noels (1994), Belmechri & Hummel (1998) and Ozkut (1990) which had the
same view with Clément and Kruidenier (1983). However, the desire for contact and
identification with other members in second language group is not fundamental to the
motivational process. In fact, it is relevant to socio-cultural contexts. Rather, these four
orientations may be seen to sustain motivation. Because this conceptual came to a
standstill, scholars have paid much attention to the nature of language learning
motivation. One of the formulations which related to the nature of language learning
motivation is the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the selfdetermination theory (Deci and Ryan (1985, 1995)). These theorists mentioned to two
general types of motivation which are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
According to Deci and Ryan (1985), intrinsic motivation is found on innate needs for
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competence and self-determination. This kind of motivation refers to an individual‟s
motivation to perform a particular activity because of internal rewards such as joy,
pleasure and satisfaction of curiosity. By contrast, for extrinsic motivation, the
individual expects to achieve instrumental and extrinsic reward such as good grades or
praise from others. In line with the notion of autonomy and intrinsic motivation, the

self-determination theory offers an interesting look at motivation by setting a different
agenda for language teachers. The focus should be on „how people can create the
conditions within which others can motivate themselves‟ rather than focusing on „how
teachers can motivate learners‟. In general, Deci and Ryan‟s theory of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation could explain and predict how orientations and learning outcomes
are related to each other.
Goal theories have also been a central feature if second language motivation research.
According to Anderman & Midgley (1998), goal theories focus on the reasons or
purposes that students perceive for achieving. There are two goals theories (the goalsetting theory and the goal orientation theory) have influences on motivation. The goal
setting theory is mainly developed by Locke (1996) on three fundamental pillars. First,
it is philosophically sound for it is in line with the philosophical theories that assume
individuals‟ control of their actions. Second, it is in line with the introspective evidence
revealing that human action is normally purposeful. Lastly, it is practical. The theory
suggests that goals have two aspects: internal (ideas) and external (condition sought).
Locke (1996) and Locke & Latham (2002) assumed that individuals‟ characteristics
could enhance their motivation as below:
• The more difficult the goal, the greater the achievement (easy tasks do not give a
sense of achievement).
• The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely performance is regulated
(general goals like „do your best‟ do not really cause individuals to do their best).

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• The highest performance is yielded when the goals are both specific and difficult.
• Commitment to goals is most critical when they are specific and difficult
(commitment to general or vague goals is easy since general goals do not require much
commitment and vague ones can be „manipulated‟ to accommodate low performance).

• High commitment to goals is attained when the individual is convinced that (a) the
goal is important and (b) attainable.
By contrast, the goal orientation theory was developed in a classroom where children‟s
learning and performance could be explained (Dörnyei, 2001). Pintrinch & Shunck
(1996) assumed that this theory is one of the most vigorous motivation theories in the
classroom. According to this theory, an individual‟s performance is closely related to
his or her accepted goals. There are two types of goal orientations (Ames & Archer,
1988; Ames, 1992): performance vs. mastery (or learning) orientations. Learners who
are mainly related to looking good and capable posses performance orientation. Those
who are more concerned with increasing their knowledge and being capable possess
the second one. Dweck (1985) suggested a distinction between these two types of
orientations “Put simply, with performance goals, an individual aims to look smart,
whereas with the learning goals, the individual aims to becoming smarter”.
However, it is possible to see that the goal theories correlate with intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation as well as the self-determination. For instance, the integrative &
instrumental motivation (from Gardner‟s theory) and the intrinsic & extrinsic
motivation (from the self-determination theory), with some researchers, have no
difference between them (e.g. Soh, 1987). Additionally, intrinsic motivation and
extrinsic motivation in the self-determination somehow correlate with the goal
orientation theory.
In general, different motivational orientations in language learning that I have just
described above make two latent assumptions which are learners could be driven by
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one motive at a time and a contextual stimulus can trigger only one type of motivation.
Some researchers confirmed that learners could be simultaneously driven by different
motives. For example,

to “foster sustained learning, it may not be sufficient to

convince students that language learning is interesting and enjoyable; they may need to
be persuaded that it is also personally important for them” (Noels, et. al, 2000).
Keblawi (2006) also confirmed in Oxford's (1994) assumption that learners might have
mixed motives. In addition, he stated that a certain stimulus might trigger different
motives at a time. For example, a statement of the kind “I study English because I want
to pursue my high studies” can involve instrumental aspects (boosting one‟s chances of
a better career), intrinsic ones (feeling the satisfaction of knowing things and of being
an educated person) or achievement motivation (getting high marks that enable one to
get access to a university). The kinds of motives triggered depend on the intention of
the learner.
2.3 Motivation and the social context
Different motivational orientations I reviewed in the previous section lead to an issue
that motivation is static. Dörnyei and Ottό's (1998) perception of motivation is
“dynamically changing cumulative arousal”. Keblawi (2006) shared the same view
with Dörnyei and Ottό when he confirmed that motivation might change over time.
This scholar found that many learners‟ motivation was different at different times and
it depends on the context.
2.3.1 The intergroup model
According to Giles and Byrne (1982), the intergroup model offers a situated social
psychological framework in order to investigate the conditions that people from groups
of ethnic minorities in multi-culture acquire and use the dominant language. The
individual‟s self-concept is the main concept of this framework and a positive selfimage is one of significant motivating force. These two scholars adopted social
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identification theory as their guiding framework. They also suggested that social
identity related to not only significant linguistic processes and practices but also second
language acquisition. In their framework, they comprised concepts of “ethnolinguistic
vitality”, “group boundaries” and multiple group membership”. “Ethnolinguistic
vitality” refers to factors like status factors, demographic factors, and institutional
factors. These factors determine a specific ethnic minority‟s distinctiveness as a
collective entity. “Group boundaries” determine the degree of ease or difficulty of
individual mobility in and out of group membership. “Multiple group membership”
refers to different groups such as professional groups or organizations that individuals
take part in besides their own ethnic group. These multiple groups have influences on
the prominence of an individual‟s identification in the ethnic category. The
intergroup model could explain the reason why a specific ethnic group still maintains
their language while they are embedded in dominant groups. However, some scholar
does not support this framework because it does not indicate the way that the
individual‟s quest for a positive identity relating to the group members‟
collectiveness (William, 1992).
2.3.2 Situated language identity
Situated language identity is the research on ethnic identity and ethnolinguistic vitality.
According to Clément and Noels (1992), the main hypothesis of social identity theory
is that individuals desire to view themselves positively and their image is determined
socially. Hence, the desire to build and maintain a positive social identity is closely
related to the motivation of linguistic practices. Clément, Noels and their colleagues
also indicated a number of factors that have an impact on social identity such as the
relative minority or majority of the speaker in the immediate surroundings; the private
or public facet of language use; or the quality and quantity of connection with other
ethnic group members

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2.3.3 Social theory of motivation
Norton (2000; Norton Pierce, 1995), drawing on the social theory, initiates the term
“investment” instead of “motivation” to describe the “socially and historically
constructed relationship of learners to the target language”. According to this scholar,
the term “investment” is explained as a process of acquiring a range of symbolic and
material resources in order to promote the value of learners‟ cultural capital. The main
reason for learning is the desire to have a good return on that investment. Additionally,
she assumed that different students do not have the same image communities, and that
those imagined communities are best understood when they are put in the context of a
learner‟s unique investment in the target language and the conditions that that learner
speaks and practices it. This scholar has introduced the concept of investment in
Norton Peirce (1995) which signals the socially and historically constructed
relationship of 166 Learner Contributions to Language Learning learners to the target
language, and their often ambivalent desire to learn and practise it. Additionally,
Norton (2013, 50-51) also stated “The conception of instrumental motivation
presupposes a unitary, fixed, and a historical language learner who desires access to
material resources that are the privilege of target language speakers. The notion of
investment, on the other hand, conceives of the language learner as having a complex
social history and multiple desires. The notion presupposes that when language
learners speak, they are only exchanging information with target language speakers,
but they are constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how
they relate to the social world… Thus an investment in the target language is also an
investment in a learner‟s own identity, an identity which is constantly changing across
time and space.”
Maehr and Braskamp (1986) have a similar construct when they mentioned the term
“personal investment” to “capture the underlying meaning of the disparate behavioural
patterns commonly associated with motivation”.

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“It is important to remember that motivation is a dynamic process. Personal
investment occurs as part of a continuous stream of ever –changing events. … Personal
investment is both a product and a producer of dynamic interaction with a variety of
persons, situations, and events. The effects of one‟s personal investment feed back to
affect the continuing investment of oneself. We can take a picture of the variables in
motivation at any given moment, but such a static portrayal seldom does justice to what
in reality is a very dynamic and continuous flow of events.”
Maehr and Braskamp (1986:10-12)
2.3.4 Motivational impact of learning situation
2.3.4.1 Parents
Gardner (1985) suggested that parents play a significant role in shaping student
motivation. He classified two main dimensions (an active role and a passive role) that
parents play in children‟s learning process. An active role includes encouragement,
support and monitoring. In contrast, a passive role comprises indirect modeling and
communicating attitudes which relating to second language learning and the second
language community. This theorist also indicated that these two above roles are in
harmony in many cases; however; when they are in conflicts, the passive role has more
effect on students‟ learning process. Additionally, he confirmed that parental
encouragement closely related to the development of learning attitudes and effort in the
learning the foreign language of children (Gardner et al., 1999).
2.3.4.2 Teachers
Clark and Trafford (1995) stated that the relationship between teacher and students
play a significant role in learners‟ attitudes towards language learning as well as group
characteristics in class.

Dörnyei (1994) offered a model of teacher-specific

motivational components comprises three main parts which are affiliative motive (to

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satisfy the teacher), authority type (controlling and autonomy supporting) and direct
socialization of motivation (modeling, task presentation and feedback). What is more,
Noels and his colleagues confirmed that the teacher‟s support and positive feedback
positively affect learner‟s learning attitudes (Noels et al. (1999)).
2.3.4.3 Learner group
Learner group is one of the vital factors has a close relationship with the study of
foreign language as well. Clément et al. (1994) investigated that groups contributed to
the learners‟ motivation. Dörnyei supported this theory by his finding that maintenance
of effective group norms showed a connection with written home assignment
preparation and homework completion. Hotho – Jackson (1995) shared this view when
he examined the effect of the group context in the learners‟ tendency to give up their
language study.
2.3.4.4 School
The research on school effects on learners‟ motivation has been developed in
educational psychology. Dörnyei (2001) indicated that by conducting researches on
characteristics, educational psychology found reasons why in specific learning
contexts, public schools do not succeed in promoting learners‟ second language
competence while institutions like language schools or universities or colleges achieve
significant success.
2.4 Role of motivation in language learning
The aim of this part is to examine which exactly the role of motivation in second

language learning is. In fact, there is a variety of factors which have effects on second
language learning. However, motivation is considered an influential role in language
learning. A lot of studies show many that teachers and researchers have stated that
motivation which is one of the key factors has effects on the success of second/foreign

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language learning. Among these studies, Masgoret and Gadner (2003) affirm the
“responsible for achievement in the second language” which means that motivation is
the most influential and direct factor that affect language achievement. Dörnyei (2001)
has the same view when he states that “Most teachers and researchers would agree that
it has a very important role in determining success or failure in any learning situation”.
In a study which carried out by Dörnyei in 1990, he also indicated that achievement
was clearly influenced by motivation. At this point, in fact, Dörnyei, Masgoret and
Gadner share the view but they use different words to express their perspectives.
Furthermore, Dörnyei (1998) shares Spolsky‟s view when he assumes that motivation
provides urge to learning of second language and then the driving force to maintain the
learning process. It seems that motivation determines the extent of active, personal
involvement in second language learning. Additionally, Oxford & Shearin, (1994)
show that motivation directly influences on how often students use second language
learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers and how long they
persevere and maintain second language skills after language study is over.

An

individual with the most outstanding abilities without motivation cannot complete long
long-term goals, and suitable curricular as well as good teaching method cannot ensure

students‟ achievement (Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998).

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CHAPTER THREE. METHODOLOGY

This study was carried out to examine secondary students‟ motivation to take extra
classes in English. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and interviews.
According to Silverman (2000), using multiple methods in a research design would
also help to “give a fuller picture and address many different aspects of phenomena”.
Therefore, I decided to use both questionnaire and interviews to explore the same issue
(learners‟ motivation) with the purpose of confirming the validity and reliability of the
process (Tellis, 1997). The interviews were conducted based on the results from
questionnaire analysis, and the findings from in-depth interviews supported me
explaining the results of the questionnaire.
3.1 Participants
The target students‟ population in this study was students who took part in extra
English classes after school in the academic year 2017-2018 at PCT Secondary school,
Hanoi, Vietnam. The total number of students did the survey were 794 male and
female students in grade 6, 7, 8 and 9. Among them, only 22 students were involved in
the interviews.
3.2 Instruments
The primary method used in this study was a questionnaire. It comprised 2 sections: I
and II. In the first section, 6 items were used to collect information relating to students‟
extra classes and motivation that they joined these classes. Additionally, students
needed to answer a question on which English class they prefer (class at school or the
extra one) and what the reasons were. The second section included questions which

aimed to identify learners‟ feelings of their extra classes.

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All the questions were written in Vietnamese in order that they were comprehensible to
young learners and they could express their ideas about the target issue.
Interviews were followed the questionnaire to add depth to the quantitative results.
3.3 Data collection procedures
In the late of February, 2018, I started delivering the survey to students at PCT
Secondary school. It took me about 15 minutes for each class (There are 33 classes in
total). Before administering the questionnaire, I informed the participants of the
objectives and significance of the study as well as encouraged them to do the survey
truthfully. When they finished the questionnaire, they were asked to check whether
their answers were incomplete or not. The total number of questionnaire papers
delivered to students was 800. Among them, 794 papers were collected, and 728 papers
were analysed. 66 papers were excluded from analysis because students did not finish
more than 5 questions. These papers may not contain true answers because they did not
really want to do the survey. Therefore, I removed them from the data analysis to
guarantee the validity of the data.
After collecting data from the questionnaire, I selected a number of students to
continue with interviews. These students were involved in the interviews because their
reasons belong to four most mentioned reasons why they take extra classes. Before
interviews were conducted, students were encouraged to expose their own views
honestly and they were guaranteed that their answers would not affect their equal
treatment at school. Furthermore, a comfortable atmosphere was created during the
interviews to ensure valid results. To record the interviewees, a notebook was used.
3.4 Data analysis procedures

The data which was collected in this paper consisted of quantitative and qualitative.
The quantitative data in the questionnaire was analysed by using SPSS (Statistical

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